The Durban University of Technology (DUT) Library hosted its annual DUT Library Staff Recognition Awards for 2023. The awards were held at the Coastlands Hotel and Conference Centre Musgrave, on Friday 26 January 2024.

Nhlanhla Nhleko and Romeo Matumba were the programme directors for the day. Delivering the welcome speech and purpose the day was Nonsikelelo Badenhorst.

“We are gathered here to celebrate us, to celebrate our hard work, our dedication, and our utmost contribution as the library staff. This is an important event for us as library staff and I certainly hope you will all enjoy this special occasion,” she said.

She continued to say that they have worked so hard as the DUT Library staff and persevered, as a team and produced outstanding work.

Dr Malefetjane Phaladi, the DUT Library Director delivered the opening remarks. He explained the day as a day of celebration, to recognise, reward and celebrate the achievement and hard work of 2023. He further applauded the DUT Library for starting the year 2023 in a high mode and finishing in the same mode.

“This year, 2023 was the year in which we were flying high as the DUT Library and it is important that equally so, we need to celebrate these achievements. As management, it is important that we do acknowledge all the efforts, the energy and all the positive thinking and mindset that you have shown to propel the library,” commented Dr Phaladi.

Dr Phaladi acknowledged that “Smart library people continued to make their mark and raise the DUT flag on the international stage, representing the university library at various national and international industry forums and knowledge sharing platforms such as the International Federations of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), International Association of University Libraries (IATUL), European Conference on Knowledge Management (ECKM), European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL). At the regional level within SADC, the library continues to attract attention from other university libraries as a model of best practice for benchmarking purposes,” he said.

A newly found culture of research and publications was taken to another level for the betterment of the library’s positioning within the university research enterprise and at various relevant subject-specific scientific communities at the global level. “To this end, 11 research outputs were submitted by library staff and accepted for publication, eight of which were published in DHET-approved national and international journals and conference proceedings, and three book chapters in international book projects. Two of our young members also got articles published in Q1 international journal (Digital Library Perspectives) in the field of information science,” concluded Dr Phaladi.

The first session of the event was dedicated to awarding and appreciating staff members who reached long service milestones in 2023. The Long Service Awards were awarded to Ntuthuko Chonco and Portia Ngcobo for their 10 years of service. Sagren Moodley, Dawn Moses and Qinisela Chiliza received certificates for their 15 years of service.

Reginald Magagula received an award for his 20 years of service, while Dumisani Ndawonde was awarded for his 25 years of service. The longest service award was awarded to Trevor Peters and Claire Spershott for their 30 years of service.

The second part of the awards focused on the categories that Library staff members had nominated each other for various awards. The winners of these categories were determined by the number of votes as well as motivations provided by nominators. The awards categories included Stewardship, Systems and Processes, Sustainability and Society. These perspectives are directly linked to the DUT’s ENVISION2030 strategy.

Library Staff Recognition Awards categories and 2023 winners: are

• Lived Values And Principles Champions:  AP (Dennis Mpumlwana), Midlands (Tholeka Sidlayi), BM Patel/Library Directorate (Lutchmie John) and City and Brickfield staff.
• Green Star: Trevor Peters and Segarani Naidoo.
• Innovation and Creativity: Prashanth Sivsaran.
• Conference Presentations And Publications: Dr Mousin Omarsaib, Dr Patrick Mhlongo, Nontutuzelo Sogoni, Romeo Matumba, Patricia Badenhorst, Sean Carte, Sagren Moodley and David Thomas.
• CPD Participation: Claire Spershott, Dr Anushie Moonasar and Nomcebo Mthimkhulu.
• Community Engagement:  Sarah Khan.
• Inculcate a Culture of Reading: Nqobizitha Langa and Nomcebo Mthimkhulu.
• Library Stakeholder Engagement: Romeo Matumba.
• Smart Librarian: Dr Mousin Omarsaib
• Librarian of the Year: Sara Bibi Mitha
• Director’s Award:  Dr Anushie Moonasar, Patricia Badenhorst, Nontutuzelo Sogoni and Romeo Matumba.

For the Director’s Award, Dr Phaladi awarded the staff members who he felt had worked hard and represented the university well for 2023.

“We are all winners, including each and every one that has been on this stage who have excelled in their expertise of work but at the end of the day there is only one winning team, and that is our DUT Library,” said Dr Phaladi.

Nhlanhla Nhleko gave the vote of thanks. He thanked the staff, library management and the staff recognition task team for their participation and for ensuring that the event was nothing but a success.

Pictured: DUT Library Director, Dr Malefetjane Phaladi and the winners of the awards.

Photography: Mnqobi Ngobese.

Sibahle Ngcobo